no idea steve as i wasn't there. obviously i don't know what you mean regarding selecting com 1 on the software,me thicko wood butcher. the lead i bought has 15 pins either end as that is what the ecu and laptop have. all instructions presume that the end user has a certain basic knowledge of computers...well they havn't met me and carl obviously. i can make doors and windows from scratch using hand tools if necessary...now that's easy

tell me about it... the lead and convertor is off martin fox and worked fine last year and it even connected for me earlier in the year when i upped the rev limits but since then it doesn't want to play. a mate got it connected a week last saturday but it took him ages and he didn't tell me how he did it. should be up at carls on saturday and have another go. will keep you posted

With various computer differences, that still isnt a guarantee it will work on every computer.

it isnt really anyones fault if they dont work, it's just there are so many hardware setups out there and then Windows itself has quite a few variations.

I had good luck on my DTA with a cheap £3 USB Converter and Asus laptop. But I also tend to keep a laptop for the car...as once you start installing lots of software and drivers for other stuff, you can start to get conflicts and something that once worked fine...suddenly doesnt.

I've also used some PCMCIA.Express type serial adaptors and they're probably more reliable. Although sometimes their connectors can be pretty crap.
But I keep a few different adaptors for use with various stuff when tuning cars, as sometimes some just dont work, so I keep a few options.

Ultimately if you can get a laptop with serial port that is always best option, especially when you're having comms issues.